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CHAPTER VIII. 



THE GAMEKEEPER AND HIS GOLGOTHA. 



The Gamekeeper's Cottage stands at the end of 

 the Oak Lane. Au orchard surrounds his 

 dwelling, the brown boughs now drooping with 

 ripened fruit. Under an overhanging sycamore 

 is a kennel of silky coated setters and a brace of 

 spaniels. The former have beautifully domed 

 heads and large, soft eyes. The spaniels with 

 their pendulous ears are a black and a brown. 

 Pheasant pens are scattered about the orchard, 

 each containing half a dozen birds. In a dis- 

 used shed are traps for capturing game, and nets 

 and snares found in rabbit runs or taken from 

 poachers. The keeper does not always take these 

 engines when he finds them, but waits quietly 

 until they are visited by the " moucher ; " and 

 then he makes a double capture. Few of the 



